SRINAGAR, July 16: Jammu and Kashmir’s revenue department on Monday launched a drive to curb illegal land brokers and locked temporarily premises of various organizations, housing cooperatives’ real estate dealers operating in Srinagar.
During the last one and a half year there has been a mushroom growth of estate agents, land brokers across Kashmir resulting in real estate prices booming with experts not ruling out a price bubble.
These estate agents are allegedly also selling government land to innocent buyers.
“The exercise has been carried out in order to determine the genuineness of such business establishments and ensure that certain unscrupulous elements that are duping the citizens of the state and land mafia are weeded out of system,” an official statement said.
Deputy Commissioner has further instructed the Additional Deputy Commissioners of Srinagar to verify each such business, person and after due scrutiny those found to possess legal documents as well a’ holding genuine land in their possession will be allowed to continue their business.
The office of the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar through the medium of newspapers, radio/ TV shall published names of genuine organizations/Housing Cooperatives/ real estate dealers who will be permitted to continue such business in the District Srinagar. The exercise has been carried out, keeping in mind various complaints received by the DC Office Srinagar.
Earlier this year government decided to recover thousands of Kanals of encroached common government land most of which was illegally occupied since militancy broke out in the state over two decades ago.
The decision came after a Supreme Court directive in January this year warning state governments against allotting common government land to private persons and commercial enterprises and then “regularising” such illegal encroachment in return for money.
The apex court directed chief secretaries of all the states to prepare schemes to evict “unscrupulous” trespassers who had grabbed land using muscle power or political clout.
As a first step the deputy commissioners and the revenue officials were asked to identify the encroached land like gram sabha lands (village councils) , streams, ponds, other water bodies, grazing lands, lands meant for pathways, storing grains, passages, cremation and burial grounds and lands for other common use of the people.
But the government has so far failed bitterly to get government land back.
